1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
James has a rather negative view of the tongue here! But it's not so much that he despises the muscle, rather respects and fears the power it holds to do harm. That respect is well-earned. Consider this: in all my years of ministry I've never seen a single person hit, punch, kick, shove, mug, rob, or murder anybody in church. But none of the churches I've served have been perfect. Over and over again I've seen people impoverish each other, wound each other, drive each other away, and destroy faith. In every single one of those incidences the culprit was the tongue. Every bit of harm done in the church--and there's plenty--is done through words: accusing, complaining, belittling, dismissing, drowning out, and so on.
James' admonition against becoming a teacher is well-taken, since teachers are held responsible for what they say regarding their subject matter. What James leaves out: as people of faith we're all teachers. Every word we utter witnesses something about our faith, our world view, our priorities, and how we value others (or don't). Every word we say is supposed to reflect Christ. We were held accountable to that standard the moment we were baptized. We adopted it for our own when we were confirmed or when we joined this church as adults. Sadly, most of us forget it on a daily basis. We act as if it doesn't matter what we say. Or we become careless, using our tongues to get what we want--what we think is right--instead of to honor God and our neighbor.
Most people I know who are anti-God, anti-church, anti-faith aren't really turned off by any of those things. What they really are is anti-people, particularly anti-church-people. Inevitably this is because of something they've been taught, told, or accused of that invalidated and wounded them. Some person of faith forgot that their words represented God, were meant to convey his grace and love. Some person of faith forgot to pay attention not just to what they wanted to say but to the effect it would have on the person listening. This kind of careless disregard has driven away many.
Our task each day is to wake up praying that the Lord would guide the use of our tongues throughout our day. From then on we listen very hard to the people around us and usually speak softly. We think before words escape our lips, not just about what we're trying to accomplish but about the people we're trying to accomplish it with and for. We understand that each word we say will convey something about God for good or ill and choose our words accordingly. We regard speaking as a holy privilege, a moment of great opportunity and great power.
If people would listen and think more--complain and badger, insist and accuse less--many of the world's problems would melt away. Yet even with this holy injunction staring us in the face, I've never known a church without complaining and badgering, insisting and accusing, gossip and rumor. How sad that we rob God's holy house of its power that way!
Like fire, the tongue holds power to give great warmth or great destruction. For which purpose are you using your tongue today?
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
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